Lightbringer (Empirium 3)

“I do,” Zahra replied, but said no more.

Navi didn’t care; her body was bursting with light. “You must tell us everything you know. Where you and Patrik have been, what you have seen. How we can help Eliana. We have a ship, and she’s fast. We have dozens of soldiers ready to fight.” She spun around, found Ysabet’s hands, and squeezed them, grinning. “Eliana is alive. She’s fighting. I knew she would, and she is. The empirium is guiding her, and…”

When Navi’s voice broke and she could no longer speak, Ysabet touched her face, smiling softly. “And now the Queen’s light will guide us to her.”

• • •

Navi was not sorry to leave the Kavalian Bog behind, even though it meant living on a ship that was apparently determined to kill her.

Mouth sour from the draught Ysabet had given her, Navi tried at last to move. For the first two days after disembarking, she had not been able to leave her bed and the pail sitting beside it.

But the draught seemed to have settled her stomach, and she left her cabin for the deck. Their winds had been lucky so far, carrying them away from the Vespers at a speed that left Ysabet ecstatic. Navi stood at the door of the main hold, eyes closed. The fresh air washed over her, bringing with it the smells of salt and the thick, oily resin Ysabet’s crew used to polish the deck.

Navi opened her eyes, watched her people work. Their people. Ysabet’s crew of sixty, and her own army of forty-seven. One hundred and seven humans and a single wraith against the ocean, the imperial fleet, and whatever horrors awaited them in Elysium.

She moved past the dark images her worries summoned and walked the deck, learning its steps and curves, admiring the smooth gleam of its railings. The industrious chatter of the crew followed her patrol. She was glad to hear some cheer in their voices now that the Vespers were no longer visible on the horizon. No imperial ships were hunting them; no danger nipped at their heels.

Not yet.

Then Navi glanced at the ship’s prow and the elaborate carved figurehead that Ysabet’s harried carpenters had been ordered to craft with very little warning: a woman, face uplifted, arms outstretched, reaching for the sky. Her hair fell in waves and curls to her waist, and around her head sat a crown of broad rays.

Beside the figurehead, the air shifted strangely.

Navi paused for a moment. The wraith had told her everything that had happened in the months since they had last seen each other, and Navi was still trying to absorb it all. Zahra, trapped for a time in a blightblade until Eliana had brought Remy back from death and freed Zahra in the process. A reunion with Patrik, and Red Crown spies in the city of Festival. The night of the Admiral’s Jubilee, when Festival had fallen to an angelic force intent upon finding Eliana at last and bringing her to the Emperor.

And now, long weeks later, Zahra and Patrik, the only survivors of that awful day, had come at last to rejoin their friends.

Navi only wished they could have been spared everything that had happened in the meantime.

She joined Zahra, standing in silence beside her as she found her bearings at the ship’s bobbing bow. She longed to see something more of the wraith than this faint wash of air.

Zahra’s voice came wistfully. “I long for that as well, Your Highness.”

Sea spray crashed up from the waves below, kissing Navi’s face with cold mist. She gripped the railing, her body zipping tight with tension.

“You don’t have to stand here with me,” said Zahra. “Lie down, if you wish.”

“Ysabet gave me a draught to settle me until I find my sea legs,” said Navi wearily. “I’d never heard of sea legs before. The term evokes amusing imagery. I’m not sure what I would have. Flippers, perhaps, or fins like a sea maiden.” She wrinkled her nose. “Hopefully not tentacles.”

Zahra gave a half-hearted laugh, then fell silent once more. So many dark feelings brewed around her that even Navi, inexperienced as she was when it came to deciphering the feelings of angels, could feel the force of them.

She glanced at the wraith, hesitated, then reached out, palm to the sky. “May I, Zahra?”

A pause, and then Zahra said thickly, “Please.”

Navi moved her fingers through the air where Zahra’s echo drifted. Into her tired mind, she placed the image of what she knew Zahra to look like, as Eliana had described from her visions. She imagined a tall angel with rich brown skin and flowing white hair, brilliant flaring wings, and then imagined drawing that angel into a warm embrace. She would kiss Zahra’s cheek, if she could. She would stroke her arms until she slept.

Navi shivered, her skin prickling from Zahra’s chill. Touching her felt like drawing her fingers through icy water, velvety and supple.

Zahra’s voice rasped with emotion. “Thank you, Navi. That was a dear kindness. And I saw it vividly. You may not be accustomed to speaking to me in that way, but your mind is sharp and clear. With practice, you would excel, I think.”

“You have my permission to speak to my mind directly, Zahra,” Navi offered. “It must be more tiring for you to speak like this.”

“Tiring, yes, but I enjoy being able to project at least some of myself back into the physical world. Besides that, it is more respectful, I think, to preserve that distance. Especially since so many of my kind do not.”

“Very well.” Navi watched the water, carefully choosing her words. “You can leave, if you want. You can travel faster than we can. You ache to see her, I know.”

Zahra’s laugh was bitter. “Ache? A small word for what I feel. A girl I love as I would my own daughter was wrenched away from me before my very eyes. I watched them take her on that beach in Festival. I watched the admiral’s ship sail away from me and could do nothing. The Emperor kept me from her. I railed against him. I howled for her. It did nothing. I have failed her.”

“Oh, Zahra, you haven’t—”

“No. Do not comfort me in this.”

Navi waited a moment. “I mean what I say. Go to her, if it will help you.”

“I cannot. The Prophet forbids it.”

This surprised Navi. She frowned up at the place where she imagined Zahra’s face would be. “Why?”

“I am to stay with you,” Zahra said flatly, “and keep your ship hidden, then help you navigate the Sea of Silarra, which will be choked with imperial ships. It will take great effort to achieve this, but I must do it nevertheless. Eliana does not have friends in Elysium. There is no Red Crown, no one who loves her. She cannot do what must be done alone. You and Ysabet, your crew, your army of strays, Patrik and Hob… She will need all of you, when the time comes. We cannot give her the army she deserves, but we can give her ourselves. And so I will remain here and hide you from searching black eyes.” o;I do,” Zahra replied, but said no more.

Navi didn’t care; her body was bursting with light. “You must tell us everything you know. Where you and Patrik have been, what you have seen. How we can help Eliana. We have a ship, and she’s fast. We have dozens of soldiers ready to fight.” She spun around, found Ysabet’s hands, and squeezed them, grinning. “Eliana is alive. She’s fighting. I knew she would, and she is. The empirium is guiding her, and…”

When Navi’s voice broke and she could no longer speak, Ysabet touched her face, smiling softly. “And now the Queen’s light will guide us to her.”

• • •

Navi was not sorry to leave the Kavalian Bog behind, even though it meant living on a ship that was apparently determined to kill her.

Mouth sour from the draught Ysabet had given her, Navi tried at last to move. For the first two days after disembarking, she had not been able to leave her bed and the pail sitting beside it.

But the draught seemed to have settled her stomach, and she left her cabin for the deck. Their winds had been lucky so far, carrying them away from the Vespers at a speed that left Ysabet ecstatic. Navi stood at the door of the main hold, eyes closed. The fresh air washed over her, bringing with it the smells of salt and the thick, oily resin Ysabet’s crew used to polish the deck.

Navi opened her eyes, watched her people work. Their people. Ysabet’s crew of sixty, and her own army of forty-seven. One hundred and seven humans and a single wraith against the ocean, the imperial fleet, and whatever horrors awaited them in Elysium.

She moved past the dark images her worries summoned and walked the deck, learning its steps and curves, admiring the smooth gleam of its railings. The industrious chatter of the crew followed her patrol. She was glad to hear some cheer in their voices now that the Vespers were no longer visible on the horizon. No imperial ships were hunting them; no danger nipped at their heels.

Not yet.

Then Navi glanced at the ship’s prow and the elaborate carved figurehead that Ysabet’s harried carpenters had been ordered to craft with very little warning: a woman, face uplifted, arms outstretched, reaching for the sky. Her hair fell in waves and curls to her waist, and around her head sat a crown of broad rays.

Beside the figurehead, the air shifted strangely.

Navi paused for a moment. The wraith had told her everything that had happened in the months since they had last seen each other, and Navi was still trying to absorb it all. Zahra, trapped for a time in a blightblade until Eliana had brought Remy back from death and freed Zahra in the process. A reunion with Patrik, and Red Crown spies in the city of Festival. The night of the Admiral’s Jubilee, when Festival had fallen to an angelic force intent upon finding Eliana at last and bringing her to the Emperor.

And now, long weeks later, Zahra and Patrik, the only survivors of that awful day, had come at last to rejoin their friends.

Navi only wished they could have been spared everything that had happened in the meantime.

She joined Zahra, standing in silence beside her as she found her bearings at the ship’s bobbing bow. She longed to see something more of the wraith than this faint wash of air.

Zahra’s voice came wistfully. “I long for that as well, Your Highness.”

Sea spray crashed up from the waves below, kissing Navi’s face with cold mist. She gripped the railing, her body zipping tight with tension.

“You don’t have to stand here with me,” said Zahra. “Lie down, if you wish.”

“Ysabet gave me a draught to settle me until I find my sea legs,” said Navi wearily. “I’d never heard of sea legs before. The term evokes amusing imagery. I’m not sure what I would have. Flippers, perhaps, or fins like a sea maiden.” She wrinkled her nose. “Hopefully not tentacles.”

Zahra gave a half-hearted laugh, then fell silent once more. So many dark feelings brewed around her that even Navi, inexperienced as she was when it came to deciphering the feelings of angels, could feel the force of them.

She glanced at the wraith, hesitated, then reached out, palm to the sky. “May I, Zahra?”

A pause, and then Zahra said thickly, “Please.”

Navi moved her fingers through the air where Zahra’s echo drifted. Into her tired mind, she placed the image of what she knew Zahra to look like, as Eliana had described from her visions. She imagined a tall angel with rich brown skin and flowing white hair, brilliant flaring wings, and then imagined drawing that angel into a warm embrace. She would kiss Zahra’s cheek, if she could. She would stroke her arms until she slept.

Navi shivered, her skin prickling from Zahra’s chill. Touching her felt like drawing her fingers through icy water, velvety and supple.

Zahra’s voice rasped with emotion. “Thank you, Navi. That was a dear kindness. And I saw it vividly. You may not be accustomed to speaking to me in that way, but your mind is sharp and clear. With practice, you would excel, I think.”

“You have my permission to speak to my mind directly, Zahra,” Navi offered. “It must be more tiring for you to speak like this.”

“Tiring, yes, but I enjoy being able to project at least some of myself back into the physical world. Besides that, it is more respectful, I think, to preserve that distance. Especially since so many of my kind do not.”

“Very well.” Navi watched the water, carefully choosing her words. “You can leave, if you want. You can travel faster than we can. You ache to see her, I know.”

Zahra’s laugh was bitter. “Ache? A small word for what I feel. A girl I love as I would my own daughter was wrenched away from me before my very eyes. I watched them take her on that beach in Festival. I watched the admiral’s ship sail away from me and could do nothing. The Emperor kept me from her. I railed against him. I howled for her. It did nothing. I have failed her.”

“Oh, Zahra, you haven’t—”

“No. Do not comfort me in this.”

Navi waited a moment. “I mean what I say. Go to her, if it will help you.”

“I cannot. The Prophet forbids it.”

This surprised Navi. She frowned up at the place where she imagined Zahra’s face would be. “Why?”

“I am to stay with you,” Zahra said flatly, “and keep your ship hidden, then help you navigate the Sea of Silarra, which will be choked with imperial ships. It will take great effort to achieve this, but I must do it nevertheless. Eliana does not have friends in Elysium. There is no Red Crown, no one who loves her. She cannot do what must be done alone. You and Ysabet, your crew, your army of strays, Patrik and Hob… She will need all of you, when the time comes. We cannot give her the army she deserves, but we can give her ourselves. And so I will remain here and hide you from searching black eyes.”